Thursday, February 14, 2013

Now here's a news bulletin: Common sense has ruled the day in North Carolina government.

DOT Secretary Tony Tata just announced that North Carolina will grant driver's licenses to young illegal immigrants who have been granted status to stay in the United States.

It's the right move, and Gov. Pat McCrory deserves accolades for backing it.

Under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, immigrants brought to the U.S. as children can work and live here while deportation is postponed for two years.

Yet North Carolina's DMV has been denying them driver's licenses even though the Department of Homeland Security has declared that the individuals are "lawfully present" and allowed to work. How it's consistent to then deny them a driver's license to get to that work is beyond us, as we said in an editorial last month.

N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper issued an opinion last month saying DMV not only could, but was required to, issue the licenses. Besides being legally required, granting the driver's licenses just makes sense. As the Latin American Coalition's Lacey Williams said, "I don't know who they think will benefit to have this class of people who can now work but cannot drive."

Gov. McCrory was surely getting an earful from political friends with hard-line views on immigration. It gives one hope that McCrory still has some of the centrist leanings he demonstrated in 14 years as Charlotte's mayor.-- Taylor Batten

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comments:

Congrats Pat, you are the liberal champion today and did the right thing. How do I know you say, because the CO said so, you see they are always the beacon of truth and their moral highground can never be questioned. But the real great news is that now illegals get to vote. America being destroyed by one liberal move after another right in front of our eyes. March on comrades!

About this blog

The Observer's editorial board cares deeply about Charlotte and the Carolinas, and has a problem with public officials who have forgotten that they report to citizens. Editorial page editor Taylor Batten and associate editors Peter St. Onge and Eric Frazier tackle politics and public policy issues locally, across the state and nation. Kevin Siers tackles those issues too in cartoons. Read their columns and biographical information on the CharlotteObserver.com Opinion page.